Laurier runs away from Gryphon men hoopsters

GUELPH – A 16-point run in the second quarter powered the Laurier Golden Hawks to an 83-65 victory over the Guelph Gryphons in OUA men’s basketball play Wednesday night at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre.

The Gryphs led 20-18 at the end of the first quarter and trailed 26-24 after a little more than three and a half minutes of the second quarter before they just couldn’t keep control of the basketball.

Kemel Archer hit a jumper for the Golden Hawks with 6:10 to go in the opening half to start Laurier’s run. Next basket for the Gryphs, their third of the quarter, came when Drew Walford sank a jump shot with 44 seconds to go until the intermission.

During Laurier’s run, the Gryphs missed five shots (one of them a three-pointer), but turned the ball over seven times while Laurier missed four shots (three three-pointers) and had two turnovers.

Laurier was up 44-26 at halftime and 59-47 after the third quarter.

The Gryphs shot 42 per cent for the game, but took 12 fewer shots than the Golden Hawks who hit 45 per cent of their shots. Guelph hit two of 11 three-point attempts and 13 of 15 free throws while Laurier shots 33 per cent (8 of 24) on three-pointers and 69 per cent (11 of 16) on free throws.

Jonathan Wallace led the Gryphs with 17 points while Banky Alade had 14 and Taylor Boers and Walford collected eight apiece and Guelph’s bench contributed 11.

Alade had nine rebounds while Wallace had three assists and Walford had two steals.

Ali Sow had 20 points for Laurier and was followed by Tevaun Kokko with 19, Archer with 18 and Ben Stevens with 10. Archer had 120 rebounds, two assists and three steals while Kokko and Matt Minutillo each had three assists and Minutillo and Stevens each had three steals.

The loss leaves the Gryphs seventh in the West Division at 3-10. They’re ahead of the McMaster Marauders (2-11) and Lakehead Thunderwolves (1-11), but they’ve lost to both of them.

Brock Badgers lead the West at 10-2 while the Western Mustangs are at 6-6 and are followed by the Waterloo Warriors at 6-7, Laurier at 5-8 and Algoma Thunderbirds and Windsor Lancers at 4-8.